Thursday, November 8, 2007

What Hath Albero Wrought

Today on Salisbury News, Captain Chris O’Barsky has a post up about his friend and colleague Lt. Lorenzo Cropper. In his post he describes how Lt Cropper feels betrayed by his “brothers” in the SFD after reading the posts and comments on Albero’s site. After reading the same posts and comments I can understand why he feels this way. Captain O’Barsky openly condemns those with-in the department that have spoken adversely of Lt. Cropper. I heartily concur with the Captain, as this is not emblematical of the brotherhood we have. Who is truly at blame for this sad set of circumstances?

This entire debacle was first aired publicly on the Salisbury News BLOG operated by Joe Albero. Albero has had a notorious vendetta against the city of Salisbury for a couple of years. In general, his bias is directed at Mayor Tilghman and anything concerning the operation of the city government including most every department head and past and present members of the elected council. Albero actively seeks to exploit anything he can perceive as wrongdoing with-in the city. It is this rancorous desire to bring harm to the City that has brought so much heartache to Lt. Cropper.

First of all Albero, by his own admission knows little or nothing of the operations of the Salisbury Fire Department. Obviously someone, or possibly more than one, with-in the department was very disgruntled about the recent promotions. This person(s), being of some intelligence saw in Albero an opportunity to air their displeasure without becoming public himself or herself. This person(s) fed Albero half-truths about the promotional process and, in an acrimonious rush to magnify his perceived malfeasance of Chief See, Mayor Tilghman, and the City as a whole; Albero endeavored to exploit whatever misinformation was tossed his way. Seeing opportunity to build hatred towards the city under the guise of supporting Lt. Cropper, Albero, by ploy of his informants, played the race card. Albero further fueled the controversy by allowing anonymous comments on his BLOG. Comments he blamed almost solely on firefighters. There may have been some “bad apples” from the with-in the department posting, but those apples are the same ones that used Albero as their mouthpiece in the first place. I believe by far and large most of the comments were of Albero’s doing, either by him personally or orchestrated by him through others.

Had Albero taken a different approach to the entire promotion issue, and sought through the proper channels to glean information that would enlighten readers rather than roil emotions, I do not believe Captain O’Barsky would feel so compelled to write a post defending his friend and showing compassion for Lt. Croppers well being.

Where does the blame lie for this sad state of affairs? Surely the bulk of it is at Albero’s feet. He has tried to make everyone believe he was Lt Croppers champion while at the same time tearing down the Mayor, the Chief, and the city. His only accomplishment with all of this has to been to plant seeds of doubt in Lt. Croppers mind and soul about his co-workers and compadres. This is not a business where you can afford to have doubts about the men and women you work with. Does Albero see the pain he has caused, not only with Lt. Cropper but also with the bulk of the Salisbury Fire Department? NO!He offers no comment on the context of Captain O’Barsky’s post. He offers only a “thank you” because the captain signed his name.

I hope and pray Lt. Cropper will rise above all this. His knowledge and experience is valuable to the citizens he so well serves. His true friends are known to him and will continue to support him. Others with-in the department that have given bad information to Albero are also to blame for Lt. Cropper’s emotional quandary and someday they will be exposed for what they really are.

20 comments:

Since I now apparently own an "anti-Albero" blogsite, I wondered if I might be allowed to enter your alliance? If there are any fees involved, I must pay a little at a time as I am but trailer trash who cannot afford but water and Coors Light (only on special occasions. Thank you inadvance of your consideration of my application.

Since i do not know Mr. O'Barsky personally i can only base my impression of him by the letter sent to Mr. Albero. Based solely on that, if THAT is what Salisbury Fire Department considers as a "professional" and an "Administrative Captain", then i'm not so sure that Mr. Albero isn't correct in his evaluation of the recent promotions. I'm totally bewildered by the verbage he chooses to use in his comments. I would think that he would surely know that it would be publicly displayed for all to read and the foul lanquage used is not only insulting, but other words are misspelled as well. He is supposed to be a highly educated person yet he hasn't enough sense to at least use spell check? Just my opinion but if i were him, i'd refrain from anymore "public commentary" on anyones behalf until he can properly do so. Again, just my opinion.

Well inside looking out I stand corrected and you are correct. The only thing I can tell you is that I didn't get finished typing that up until almost 1:00 am. And no I did not hit spell check and I'm sure there were several gramatical errors in the piece as well. I was not trying to get an A in English class, I was just sick and tired of seeing my friend getting blasted and I responded. I had full understanding and intent for it to be displayed publicly and for that I am not ashamed. For anyone that truly knows me understands that when it comes to doing my job I am a "PROFESSIONAL". I will not apologize for my "verbage" as you put it because its how I felt at the time and considering some of the other "verbage" on Mr. Albero's site, mine was tame. I'm sure you will have a response and thats ok, but at least capitalize all you letter I's in your sentences will you.

I would ask you, respectfully, to consider the emotions of the post and of the events to which it refers.

The disease spread by JA has taken its toll on some of us, especially Cropper. He is unsure at the present and with some doubt, no doubt. Cropper is simply one of the finest human beings I've ever been associated w/ beyond the fact that he is one of the BEST EMTP's Ive either worked w/, watched work, or learned from.

Chris, like myself, is very close to Crop and his emotional outburst was based upon his love and admiration of not only his colleague, but his friend. Chris is of the finest character and is cut from the same mold (albeit a much SMALLER mold) as Crop. He too is one of the finest FFEMTP's Ive ever had the pleasure of being associated w/ as well as being a part of my family currently serving in the capacity of "little sister"...He is a wonderful father to his children and great husbanc to his (hottie) wife. They are a "perfect" family and I so envy him for his accomplishments in life as well as his good nature and compassion.I am uspset w/ him for not calling upon me to ensure that he upheld our good family name w/ regards to his utilization of puncuation, spelling, and grammar. I have spoken to him in the past regarding this issue but one of his strengths is also one of his weaknesses...and that being his hardheadedness...he knows that I am the "smart" one in the family, but refuses to utilize my extensive command of the English language to his further his purposes. Alas...one day...

Seriously however,

The Cap is truly a "professional" in every sence of the word. His post was an overflow of emotion and simply states how many of us feel regarding the situation. It may not be the "prettiest" representation of English writings, but very "effective" none the less.

I would respectfully challenge you to look back and find a time when you may have been overcome w/ emotion as well and made a statement or statements similar to those of the Cap. Maybe you wouldve liked to "revamp" them a bit, or not...I do feel that, especially not knowing him personally, you may wish to give him some slight benefit of the doubt w/ regards to how he feels for his friend and for his fire service as a whole. His compassion is one of his strongest assets.

Alas...Lil Sis...English is not...when will you ever take heed from he who shared the womb w/ ye??? Call me next time so I can ensure you uphold the family name!!! LOL!!!!!

I'd like to ask you, Mr. O'Barsky, do you personally feel that racism is a problem in the department, or do you feel pulling the race card was a sensationalistic act by Mr. Albero to gain readership? If that is the case, he has turned your place of employment upside down for his own personal gain. You do not have to answer here if you do not wish. Perhaps you would like to e-mail me instead. (caryn127@aol.com)

Come now, a turkey shoot? Why are you not glued to your computer even over the weekend like all good trolls...oh, sorry...bloggers are? LOL. Hope you had fun today. Personally, I figured you an AKC dog show type.

My mindset was simply that others have been upset of Mr. Albero's cursings during his rantings. My point was that I'd prefer you not to sink to that level and to have your words truly emulate your professional level. Believe me, if you could actually hear MY OWN verbage being muttered while I read his trash!!

Just so you do know, I'm not against firefighters at all. I have numerous friends throughout the area that serve with great pride in the fire service, they're all heroes in my eyes and always will be. I generally do tap them for ACTUAL FACTUAL information(unlike Mr. Albero does) anytime I see one of his rediculous rantings. I probably get a better and more factual view of Salisbury from outsiders than what his "supposed insider" is giving him. You all do have alot of supporters out there in the area fire service so don't think all those ANON's are other fire service people taking the cheap shot at Salisbury(those are being looked at by other departments as to thier members possibly involved). Hold your heads high and simply let those discenting words run off your back like water on a duck(they're being posted by a sick and warped minded person consumed by revenge and retaliation against the city). I do know that there is not one single person in the fire service worldwide that would ever purposely allow someone to die or to allow thier properties to burn,in revenge for comments made on a blog, it just would not happen!!!! That being said, I'll postout now(this was suppose to be a very brief statement)

Dal-pups

contact me at dalpuppy2000@yahoo.com

New to the BLOG world

Just wanted to get in the blogging world of fun. As the title says this is my soapbox. I'll be happy to share with anyone about issues in and around Salisbury. Say anything you like about anything or anyone but keep the language clean and refrain from name calling. I reserve the right to edit any comments made here.